Zana had been jailed for 10 years after she recited a part of her oath in Kurdish in 1991.

Nov 18, 2015 17:19 IST

Turkey's Kurdish politician Leyla Zana, who had been imprisoned for 10 years for speaking in Kurdish while taking her parliamentary oath in 1991, once again defied norms and changed wordings during the oath-taking on Tuesday.

The Speaker of the Turkish parliament declared Zana's oath null and void, as she chose to refer to the country as the "Turkey nation" instead of the "Turkish nation", as mentioned in the oath. Some reports said she had changed the wordings from "Turkish people" to "people of Turkey".

Zana had greeted the newly-elected Turkish parliament in Kurdish before taking her oath, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

When she said "Turkey nation" instead of what was written in the oath, she was reportedly asked by the speaker to take the oath again with the proper wordings. She refused, and her oath was nullified.

Zana had been jailed for 10 years after she recited a part of her oath in Kurdish in 1991.

Zana's controversial oath on Tuesday comes in the midst of the Turkish government's clampdown on Kurdish protesters and militia in the country.

Turkey's new parliament was elected after the snap elections on 1 November, which kept Prime Minsiter Recep Tayyip Erdogan in power as his Justice and Development Party (AKP) won majority seats.